“Flower?”

The horse shook its head and brayed.

“Moonbeam?”

Another head shake.

“I don’t know…Horse?”

The mare whinnied happily.

“What are you doing?” Shutian asked, looking askance at him.

“Trying to name this thing.”

“And you think Horse is a good choice?”

“I don’t, but she seems to like it.” The mare was prancing merrily next to Pengfei.

“I think you’re reading too much into things.”

Pengfei shrugged but had already taken the horse’s movements for agreement, whether it was true or not. So, from now on, the horse was… Horse.

“Any chance you’d let me…” Pengfei moved to jump up on Horse’s back again but despite her apparent happiness at her simple name, she shied away from her would-be rider.

“Right. Just thought I’d check.”

Dawn had come just a little while ago and they still had not rendezvoused with the other disciples. They had walked in awkward silence for the majority of the time since Pengfei had tackled the runaway.

“Did you bring any food with you?”

“Yeah, you didn’t?” Shutian reached into the small bag over his shoulder and handed Pengfei some jerky.

“No, we all left pretty quickly when we noticed you were gone.”

Shutian shook his head in embarrassment but didn’t say anything further. They took a break and Pengfei gnawed the tough jerky while Horse drank from the stream that ran the length of the valley.

The two disciples sat on rocks or milled about boredly while the animal plunged its head into the water again and again. Shutian looked nervously to the south and the bend in the valley, clearly dreading the coming reunion with the others. But something else grabbed his attention.

“Do you see that?”

Pengfei followed Shutian’s finger up to the ridgeline. It was hard to make out since the morning sun was still rising from that direction but there appeared to be a person.

He shielded his eyes and looked again. The figure descended the ridge slightly, stepping out of the blinding light.

It was a man dressed in black.

“Shit, shit, shit! We have to go. Now!”

Pengfei pulled Shutian to his feet.

“Oww, what are you doing?!”

The man in black was ahead of them. Between the boys and Kunlun. It looked as if the stranger would be able to make it to the valley and block their way before they could pass. Pengfei considered heading back to the north but when he looked back, another dark figure was distantly visible in that direction as well.

Shutian noticed the fear in Pengfei’s frantic gaze. “Who is that? Are those… are those the bandits who killed your friends?”

“They aren’t bandits, but yeah, it looks like them.”

“Shit! What do we do?”

Pengfei considered the same question as he looked up and down the valley. There were really no other routes to take, north or south. They’d be caught before they could scale the ridge in any other directions.

“What do we do?!” Shutian demanded again.

“Come on.”

Pengfei took Horse by the reins and continued on their original course towards the sect. He tried to walk casually, not look at the man in black descending the hillside ahead.

--What do we do… that’s a great fucking question.--

He knew running was pointless. Shutian was tired, Horse was tired, and even when Pengfei was fully rested, his top speed was no match for a martial artist’s qinggong. Beyond the futility of fleeing, he didn’t have any other thoughts.

“So, you just want to walk right past them!?”

“I’m hoping they don’t want to start trouble with Kunlun. But I’d love to hear a better idea. You have one?”

Shutian cursed but offered no alternatives, he just followed Pengfei along the path upstream. They both tried to walk casually.

There was nothing else to do except worry for several minutes. In front of them, the man in black reached the valley floor and walked towards them. He was still several minutes away but Pengfei could already see a sword on his hip. Shutian looked behind at the other stranger closing in from the rear.

--Did they notice Shutian running away? Does that violate Kunlun’s punishment? An excuse to kill us?--

A chill ran up Pengfei’s spine at the thought. He whispered to his companion, “We’re just two disciples of Kunlun looking for runaway goats.”

Shutian nodded his head in agreement. “Right… but you do the talking though.”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Why me? You’re the senior here.”

“You’ve dealt with these guys before. Just do it!”

Shutian hissed the last as the man in front of them drew nearer and nearer. There was no telling how acute the stranger’s hearing was. Some masters had greatly heightened senses. The disciples erred on the side of caution and walked in anxious silence.

Finally, the man in black came to a stop several paces in front of them. Pengfei flinched when the stranger put his hand lazily on the hilt of his sword.

--At least he’s not one of the bastards who attacked before.--

Horse was not as easily mollified as Pengfei. The mare stomped her hooves nervously into the earth.

The silence was broken by footsteps approaching from behind. The boys turned to see the other man in black had caught up with them. He looked the same as the first. Somewhere in his twenties, thin, with long hair tied back. The newcomer spoke to the man in front.

“Who are they?”

“They haven’t said yet.”

The disciples stood between the two men. Pengfei looked back and forth between them then addressed the one blocking their path.

“We’re disciples of Kunlun.”

“Ah, they say their disciples of Kunlun.” The man in front said to his friend.

“What are disciples of Kunlun doing all the way out here?”

The two men addressed each other, not the scared teens. They didn’t even look at the boys. Pengfei took hold of Shutian’s arm and tried to lead him around the man in front, but the stranger side-stepped to block their path again.

“Where are the disciples of Kunlun going now?”

“They seem like they’re in a hurry to leave.”

“They should stay and talk.”

Their indirect way of speaking was unsettling. Pengfei could feel Shutian’s arm trembling beneath his hand and was just as scared himself. But he managed to get his next words out with a steady voice.

“Kunlun has closed its gates. We cannot interact with you. Please let us pass.”

“Kunlun has closed its gates… they can’t speak with us.”

“They could speak to themselves. And we could listen.”

“They could list the names of every master still alive in the Kunlun sect. I think if we heard that, we would probably turn around and walk away.”

The men nodded at each other and looked expectantly at the disciples.

“You want to know the names of our masters?” Shutian asked the strangers, but they said nothing else. “What do you think Pengfei?”

Horse pulled against her reins and drew Pengfei’s attention. When the mare met his eye, the boy got the impression she was willing to help. He said nothing to the strangers or his fellow disciple and instead jumped up on Horse’s back. Thankfully, the mare tolerated him.

Pengfei reached out a hand to his companion.

“Come on Shutian.”

The boy looked at the men in black and then grabbed Pengfei’s outstretched arm. Working together, they got him up on Horse’s back as well. The man in black that had blocked their path now stepped in front of Horse and began to draw his blade.

“If you touch us, Kunlun will leave its confinement to hunt you down.” Pengfei paraphrased the words he had heard Elder Weidao speak the night they had met. He was unsure if it was true or not, but it had seemed to work then.

A tense moment of uncertainty. The blade moved further out of its sheath.

“….”

“Let the invaders go.” The man from behind conceded finally.

--Invaders? Is that us?--

The man in front held his ground and gave no sign he had heard his friend.

Pengfei breathed deeply and braced himself for his next gambit. He dug his heels into Horse’s flanks and flicked the reins. She darted forward a few step and pushed the man in black out of her path. Pengfei’s leg brushed the man’s shoulder as they passed.

--Please don’t kill me, please don’t kill me, please don’t kill me…--

He waited for a sword stroke to slice through him and Shutian, but the attack did not come. He looked back over his shoulder and saw the strangers standing side by side, watching as they trotted away.

******************************************************************************

As soon as they rounded the nearest bend and left the sight of the men in black, Horse reared on her hind legs, sending Pengfei and Shutian falling unceremoniously to the ground.

“What the fuck?”

Pengfei stood, rubbing his back.

--Whatever. At least she helped out when it mattered.--

The old mare had barged past the stranger in a way he never would have had the physical or mental strength to have managed. If it had not been for her, they might still be there squirming under the thumbs of those mysterious bastards.

He helped Shutian up and the disciples continued their trek back towards the Kunlun sect.

Only a few more minutes passed before the other disciples came into view ahead. Nanxi, Xiaotong, and Neng were bounding across the ground utilizing their qinggong again. And there was a fourth figure with them as well, wearing the same grey robes as the rest.

Elder Chen Weidao.

“Fuuucccckkk!” Shutian moaned.

Once they saw that Pengfei and Shutian were safe, they ceased using their movement techniques and slowed to a walk. Still, everyone had reunited within a few minutes.

Pengfei and Shutian greeted Chen Weidao in unison, “I greet the Elder.”

He looked at them sternly, his appearance slightly more wild than usual. “What the hell is going on?”

Neng subtly held a finger up to his lips and Pengfei took that to mean no one had yet said anything.

--I guess we’re free to improvise.--

“We…were looking for a lost goat.”

“Bullshit.”

Shutian added quietly, “Sorry Elder, we couldn’t find it.”

The Taoist master looked beyond the children and down the valley, searching for something in the distance. But he just turned and headed back towards the sect. The disciples fell in behind him and walked in silence.

******************************************************************************

The herd was where they had left it in the south end of the valley. Just slightly more dispersed than usual but still unacceptable to Elder Chen Weidao.

“Nanxi, go round up the beasts. You three,” he indicated Neng, Shutian, and Xiaotong, “back up to the sect. Find the head of the Discipline Hall and tell him you need two months in the cliffs. Pengfei, come with me.”

The disciples dispersed with mumbled words to the elder. The ones headed back up to the sect looked grim. Pengfei didn’t know what happened at the ‘cliffs’ but judging from the expressions on his friends’ faces, it was not pleasant. He gave them a quick wave and then trotted after the elder who was headed to the barn.

When the man reached the structure, he opened the door but recoiled from the smell halfway through the opening.

“Ugh. Go get me some food.”

Pengfei did as he was bid. When he returned, the elder took the provided jerky and bit into it. He turned to the disciple again after swallowing several bites.

“Did you see the strangers?”

“Ye- yes, sir. How did you know?”

“I was tracking them when I came across your idiot friends chasing after you and Shutian.” The elder examined the disciple, seemingly reluctant to discuss these matters with the boy.

--I wonder if he was tracking them the night he saved me? Why else would he have been out there…huh.--

An expectant look from the elder and Pengfei continued, “There were two of them. I didn’t recognize either. They weren’t the same men who attacked me before.”

“Did they say anything?”

“They seemed interested in what masters were still living at Kunlun. They wanted your names. But we didn’t say anything, sir.”

“Good.” Chen Weidao nodded. “Anything else?”

“…They called us ‘invaders’. I don’t know why, it didn’t make sense.”

The elder squinted in confusion but just took another bite of jerky. Pengfei followed him as he walked towards the stream.

“Sir, those men aren’t bandits, are they? Bandits don’t want to intercept messages or know the names of sect elders.”

“No, they don’t.”

“So… who are they?” Pengfei asked as the elder knelt to drink handfuls of water from the stream.

The man flicked his hands dry and said, “We’re not sure.”

“They’re just… strangers? Why would strangers be so hostile?”

“You’re in the Jianghu now, boy. If two groups aren’t hostile towards each other, it’s because they’ve moved past hostility and into outright war. Do you know why Kunlun closed its gates?”

Pengfei blinked at the sudden pivot in conversation. “Oh…not really. Something about a feud with another sect. I’ve been meaning to ask more about it.”

“One day, this is back when we were still in Qinghai, we encountered a group from the Kongtong sect. Thirty of them. They were ‘hostile’. Attacked us in broad daylight.”

Pengfei fit the little nugget of information into the narrative he had pieced together so far.

--Kongtong attacks, a feud starts between the sects… The Wulin Alliance orders Kunln to close its gates for 50 years…--

“Could these stangers be from Kongtong then? Out for revenge?”

Elder Weidao didn’t answer directly, just shrugged.

Nanxi was walking back up the barn followed by several sheep. Chen Weidao saw the boy coming and ended the conversation abruptly.

“Don’t mention the strangers to any of the other disciples. I’ll see to it that Shutian doesn’t either.”

When Nanxi had joined them, the elder addressed both disciples.

“I’ll stay here for a little while but I need to head back to the sect this afternoon. You two finish the week down here then return like normal. I don’t think you’ll have anymore … problems.”

The rest of the morning and early afternoon passed awkwardly as the disciples worked under their elder’s supervision. But eventually Chen Weidao walked serenely up the path to the sect compound. The disciples watched him go and as soon as the elder was out of sight Nanxi turned to Pengfei.

“What was up with him? He seemed more cagey than usual.”

Pengfei considered heeding the elder’s request for discretion. But not for very long. He immediately divulged every detail of the morning’s encounter with the strangers.